Guns remain the leading cause of death among children and adolescents | Johns Hopkins

A new report from the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, based at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, highlights the ongoing epidemic of gun deaths in the United States, including among children and particularly black youth.

The report, Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Adolescents, analyzed the latest final data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and highlighted that 48,204 people died from firearms in the United States in 2022, the second-highest number ever, including 27,032 suicides, a historic high for the country.

This year's annual report focuses on firearm deaths among children ages 1 to 17. In the United States, firearm deaths in this age group have increased 106 percent since 2013 and have been the leading cause of death in this group since 2020.

The report also highlights the disproportionate impact of firearm deaths among Black children and youth. In 2022, the firearm death rate among Black children and youth ages 1-17 was 18 times higher than among white children in the same age group. The rate of firearm homicides among Black children and youth increased 5.6 percent from 2021 to 2022. The rate of firearm suicides among older Black teens and adolescents ages 15-19 rose sharply — 24 percent year-over-year — surpassing the firearm suicide rate among white teens in that age group for the first time.

“We hope this report will help policymakers understand the magnitude of this crisis and demonstrate the opportunity to more effectively address it with equitable, evidence-based policies, including laws to prevent children from accessing firearms,” said Silvia Villarreal, MPP, lead author of the report and director of research translation at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

To address the crisis of youth gun violence, the report's authors recommend expanding and strengthening laws to prevent children's access to guns. Currently, more than half of U.S. states have laws requiring the safe storage of firearms in households with minors. Some jurisdictions hold gun owners liable if a minor's access to a firearm results in injury or death.

The statistics on firearm deaths cited in the report come from the CDC's “Underlying Cause of Death” database, which is based on death certificates of U.S. citizens and includes accidental shootings, police shootings, suicides and homicides. It is considered the most reliable national source of data on firearm deaths.

The results show that after peaking in 2021 amid the social unrest of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall gun violence rate in the U.S. fell 2.7 percent in 2022, representing 626 fewer deaths. The decline is due to a drop in the murder rate, which fell 7.5 percent in 2022, with 1,307 fewer gun murders. Firearm suicides increased 2.7 percent from 2021 to 27,032, the highest since the CDC began tracking firearm deaths in 1968.

Other important findings:

• In 2022, there were 2,526 firearm deaths among 1- to 17-year-olds, an average of nearly seven per day.
• Almost a third of all deaths among 15- to 17-year-olds were caused by firearms.
• From 2013 to 2022, the suicide rate by firearm tripled among black youth ages 10 to 17 and more than doubled among Hispanic youth ages 10 to 17.
• Black male teenagers and young adults (ages 15 to 34) accounted for 34 percent of all gun murders in 2022, despite making up only 2 percent of the total U.S. population. The gun murder rate for this group was 24 times higher than for white men in this age group.
• More than half (55 percent) of deaths among older black teenagers ages 15 to 17 in 2022 were caused by firearms.
• In 2022, the firearm homicide rate among black female teenagers and young adults ages 15 to 34 was nine times higher than among their white female peers.
• Across all age groups, American Indians/Alaska Natives were five times more likely to die by firearm homicide than their white counterparts.

To prevent gun violence, the report's authors also recommend implementing gun licenses that include background checks and safety training; policies that remove firearms from people at risk of harming themselves or others; community violence intervention programs; stricter permits for open and concealed carry of firearms; and repealing “stand your ground” laws.

“The research is clear: These actions can help reduce gun violence, including the record-high rates we are seeing among our nation’s youngest and most vulnerable people,” said Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, MPH, co-author of the report and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.

“Gun Violence in the United States 2022: Examining the Burden Among Children and Adolescents” was written by Silvia Villarreal, Rose Kim, Elizabeth Wagner, Nandita Somayaji, Ari Davis, and Cassandra Crifasi.

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Media contact: Joseph McHugh at [email protected] and Barbara Benham at [email protected]